Acoustic Wave Therapy

Meet the newest player to make waves on the anti-cellulite field

Diode lasers (TriActive), superpowered massagers (Endermologie), and radio-frequency machines (Accent) have for years dominated the anti-cellulite arena. But now a new player (poached, surprisingly, from podiatrists and sports-medicine pros) is jockeying for position in the dermatology wing: Acoustic Wave Therapy (AWT). The technology, developed in the '90s to stimulate blood flow and relax muscles in athletes, blasts skin with compressed air, creating internal vibrations that penetrate one to two millimeters below the surface. Physical therapists using AWT to treat inflammation and joint pain noticed an unexpected side effect—firm, taut skin—and a cellulite-erasing star was born.

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"AWT breaks down the connective fibers that cause cellulite," says Dallas internist Bill J. Johnson, MD. "New collagen is then able to form between existing fat and muscle tissues." The relatively painless process also boosts circulation to the area, so after just one session, "skin starts to look smoother," he says.

A 2007 study in Clinical Interventions in Aging proved that similar waves can remodel collagen within the dermis. Twenty-one female subjects were exposed to energy-induced vibrations for 20 minutes, twice a week. After six weeks, ultrasound measurements showed that all had restructured collagen. This past January, research published in Aesthetic Dermatology also demonstrated the long-term benefits of AWT. Sixty-nine testers who underwent a weekly course of treatment over six months maintained an increase in elasticity for up to one year.

"From just a few sessions, I've seen a lasting improvement in texture," says dermatologist Simon Ourian, MD, the medical director of the Epione Medical Corporation in Beverly Hills. "At worst, you might have some immediate redness," he says. "But you can go to work right afterward."

Despite the promising data, AWT is "definitely evolving," Johnson says. In his practice, some sections of the body, such as the back of the thigh, seem to benefit more than others. "We're still trying to figure out how best to manipulate the waves," he says.

There is also some concern that the impact could affect certain vital organs, since AWT relies on the same (albeit less powerful) waves as other wave-based machines, such as kidney-stone-busting extracorpo-real shock wave therapy (ESWT). "I worry about the possibility of harming the lungs," Ourian says. "It's unlikely but something to be aware of." As for organs below the rib cage? "The frequency isn't high enough to penetrate all the way to the stomach or ovaries," he says.

To expedite results, some doctors (including Ourian) are coupling AWT with other treatments, such as mesotherapy, in which pockets of fat are "melted" with a potent injection first. "I'm skeptical," says Elizabeth Tanzi, MD, codirector of the Washington Institute of Dermatologic Laser Surgery in Washington, DC. "If AWT is so great, why the need to combine it with something else?"